Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises, (born Sept. 29, 1881, Lemberg, Austria-Hungary [now Lviv, Ukraine]—died Oct. 10, 1973, New York City), Austrian-American libertarian economist known for his contribution to liberalism in economic theory and his belief in the power of the consumer.

Von Mises was a professor at the University of Vienna (1913–38) and at New York University (1945–69). In The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality (1956), an examination of American socialism, he dealt with the opposition of a variety of intellectuals to the free market; in his view, these persons bear an unwarranted resentment toward the necessity of obeying mass demand, which is the basis of prosperity in big business. Among his other books are Planned Chaos (1947), concerning socialist totalitarianism, and Human Action (1949; rev. ed. 1966), a treatise on economics.